Highlighting – “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (v.6-7)
I love this chapter in first Corinthians. It really serves as a reminder to Christians to not get caught up in their good deeds, gifts, talents, and outward display of piety, meanwhile they have no love in their hearts. You see, according to the chapter, you can have all the spiritual gifts in the world, and it be useless to God, if you don’t have love rooted in your heart. Why is it possible to still have spiritual gifts and not have love, because the Bible says the gifts of God are without repentance (Romans 11:29).
Have you ever taken the time out to read this chapter? Verse two says that we can have the gift of prophecy, but if we don’t have love, we are nothing (paraphrased). Love is the foundation of the Christian faith, which is why God puts so much emphasis on us having it. The most important reason for us to display love is because God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
Even further, if we have love in our hearts, it shouldn’t please us to see the downfall of someone else or to feel pleasure seeing someone else hurt. Untainted love rejoices with the truth, protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres and covers a multitude of sins (Jesus Christ). True love never ends, as God’s love will never end for us (Romans 8:38-39). The lack of love in our hearts will hinder our prayers from being answered by God, as well as cause our sacrifice to God to be displeasing to Him (1 Corinthians 13:1).
Is there someone in your heart that you have yet to forgive? Release the anger in your heart that’s causing you to sin and forgive them – be free. Are you selfish and always seeking to be ahead at the expense of others? Ask God to give you His Spirit of humility that brought Jesus Christ to be a servant to us and die on the cross.
For anyone that’s in love, do you ever feel as though you’re always thinking about how you can make the person you love happy? That’s the same way God feels about us, and He desires that we would feel the same for Him and other saints (Matthew 22:36-40). Think about it, if we all loved God and our neighbors as the Bible tells us to, there would be less evil and pain in this world.
Dear Father, You are love. You’ve shown me love in the sacrifice You made through Jesus Christ, and I desire to bear fruit of the Spirit, which is love. My faith is founded on love. Help me to walk in that love daily, demonstrating it not only in my words, but also in my actions. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen!
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